ORLANDO, Fla. — If the Mets want to reside in “Playoffville,” they should rethink plans to reduce payroll, says a longtime sparring partner.
Scott Boras seldom misses an opportunity at the general managers’ meetings to publicly jab the Mets about their spending, and Wednesday the agent delivered another shot.
Boras was asked about general manager Sandy Alderson’s plan to next season reduce a payroll that reached $155 million in 2017. Citing baseball’s skyrocketing revenues in recent years, Boras offered the metaphor of a wage earner receiving a substantial raise, but refusing to move his family into a nicer neighborhood.
“This is not about the ability to pay, this is about the choice to pay, and what you want to provide your fans,” Boras said. “Our game is very healthy.
“The team that is cutting payroll is providing their family less protection, for winning. They don’t have the resources. They are not living in the gated community of Playoffville.”
In past years, Boras has used supermarket and astronaut analogies to characterize the Mets’ spending. He was asked in what neighborhood, in relation to “Playoffville,” the Mets now reside.
“The Mets have all the materials to live in a palatial estate of Playoffville,” Boras said. “The question is, ‘When do they choose to begin construction?’”
Free agents represented by Boras this offseason include J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Jake Arrieta and Greg Holland, but the Mets appear unlikely to heavily pursue any member of that group, instead focusing on a lower-tier of players.
Next offseason, Boras will be searching for Matt Harvey’s initial free-agent contract. The former Mets ace first has to resurrect his career, after two straight seasons sabotaged by injuries. In 2016,
Harvey missed the second half after undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. Last season he was sidelined for 2 ¹/₂ months with a stress injury to his scapula. Harvey missed the 2014 season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
“With great talents, their ceilings, we know the capacity,” Boras said. “And the idea of what Matt has before him this year, he has the opportunity to conduct a normal offseason, which is something he has not been able to do, because of his surgeries. We are really hopeful that time frame will allow him to throw a lot more than he was able to do in the past and really work on his command and control of his pitches.
“As far as his velocity, we’re pretty pleased with what we saw last year. It’s really about him getting command of his pitches, which we know when you have TOS, that is the issue, throwing enough pitches to get the feel back, your control.”